Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.) on Thursday blasted the stimulus measure, calling it a “full employment bill for rats in the San Francisco area.”
Kingston was referring to an article in the Washington Times which reported that the merged House-Senate stimulus legislation includes $30 million for wetlands restoration that the Obama administration intends to spend in the San Francisco Bay Area to protect, among other things, the endangered salt marsh harvest mouse.
During his speech on the House floor, Kingston said that Congress is looking to save rats while people are losing their jobs, saying the legislation working its way through Congress “stimulates rats in San Francisco.” He sarcastically said he is looking forward to visiting San Francisco to visit the rats to see how they are doing.
Kingston and Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) pointed out that lawmakers will not have the opportunity to strike specific provisions from the stimulus bill, which they noted few members have seen.
An aide for Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who represents San Francisco, told the Washington Times that the Speaker had nothing to do with the $30 million provision, adding Republicans are looking for ways to demagogue the $789 billion bill.
Responding to Kingston, Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.) said on the House floor that “there is no earmark for rats,” explaining that the $30 million will fund Environmental Protection Agency programs that maintain wetlands.
The National Republican Congressional Committee put out a release on Thursday titled “Squeaker of the House: Stimulus Saves Mouse” that touted the rodent language.
The NRCC stated, “The more the American people learn about the economic stimulus package, the more they find that the package would do little to help them or the economy. Today we learned that tucked away in the annals of the pork-laden stimulus bill is $30M that is being used to restore a wetland in Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi